Working in the bridal industry is so truly rewarding, to a point where old mate Confucius’ saying “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life” is actually a reality for us. How privileged!
Not only do we get blessed with meeting so many incredible women in such a happy stage in their life from all over Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and even the world, we also get to create something so magnificent that most of them keep them for their entire lives. Even those who don’t decide to keep them and utilise other methods still maintain their memories for a lifetime and being a part of that brings us so much joy.
Being at BOA really gives us the opportunity of a lifetime, to celebrate a woman’s unique individuality, from fiancé to wife, from single to married, a time filled with such excitement and wonderment for the future.
This particular post is about one of our last ever brides to purchase with us while we were still located in our Armadale boutique. Talia’s patience with our move, lack of curtains and lack of lighting was so very appreciated and we really felt like she went on this journey from Armadale to Malvern with us.
Talia’s dress journey began with a now retired design of BOA called Monique and a stunning, patterned swirl beaded fabric – now on our new design Peyton. She fell in love with the Monique skirt in a general sense but knew something wasn’t perfect for her in regard to the bodice.
We knew she wanted something straight across the neckline, as a woman with a lithe and lean frame, her sharp decolletage and incredible posture looked incredible with this particular neckline, vs the original definitive sweetheart, and the moment I whipped out this particular swirl pearl beaded fabric, Talia’s eyes perfectly lit up with excitement. She could see the vision!
A couple of months later we held Talia’s mockup fitting at the new boutique in Malvern, but in the months she had been waiting she couldn’t get her mind off a particular skirt she fell in love with at another store – she knew she didn’t love the dress overall, nor the fabric it was made from, but she adored the back shape of the bodice and the gathering around the skirt, so she called us to see if she could swap the organza horsehair handkerchief layered design for a ruched chiffon, we couldn’t be happier to oblige. How? You ask with enormous confusion, well my dears, because the gown hadn’t begun construction just yet! So she could still swap the fabrics over.
A really fun part of the mock-up was the discussion of the beaded fabrics placement, where exactly it would sit on her body and what would flatter her frame the most, with many voices and opinions, her faithful designer (lol – me) took the reigns and placed it across her bodice, with hushed whispers and baited breath I slowly moved the fabric across her body, looking at her reflection in the mirror and there it was! The moment, the perfect fit. I made sure to exclaim out loud “there”. Talia’s trusted advisors came forward to look and were all extremely happy with the choice as we all rejoiced. Oh, I accidentally rhymed, what a great time!
We then sent the details back to the work-room for the construction. A few months later Talia brought more family members with her to embrace the moment, including family members on video chat from various places in the world, to view her gown for the very first time.
It didn’t disappoint! The whole family was filled with love, adoration and excitement for Talia’s big day. We loved being a part of this memory and experience with them. They were all so supportive, kind and encouraging. They were filled with such gratitude and encouragement of our work and every single fitting was an absolute joy.
Thank you Talia, for allowing us into this special time in your life. Thank you for the beautiful pastries that I accidentally ate the majority of before anyone else could have any. We couldn’t have asked for a more wholesome continuation through the next step of our BOA history.
See Talia’s review and gown photos here
With Love, BOA